Cleveland makes quick work of Ian Kennedy in 10-1 victory over Royals

Seven minutes.

That’s all it took for the Cleveland Indians to club a pair of 411-foot home runs that scored three runs on Friday night off Royals starter Ian Kennedy. That gave the Indians a lead they would never relinquish in a 10-1 win at Kauffman Stadium.

And 49 minutes after Kennedy toed the rubber and delivered the first pitch in the Royals’ biggest game of the season, he handed the ball to manager to Ned Yost and walked off the field having left the Royals in a hole.

There are still 41 games to be played this season, but if the Royals harbor hopes of claiming a second AL Central Division championship in three years, the road got a little steeper. Cleveland now holds a 6 1/2 -game lead over the Royals, 61-60.

Kennedy said that while he warmed up before the game that he hoped his adrenaline would kick in because he could tell his pitches weren’t there.

“We kind of take pride on days when it’s not there,” Kennedy said. “Most times you have one pitch going. You have those days where it’s your ‘A’ stuff days and you expect to win, and ‘B’ stuff days where you have a better chance of winning and you get the ‘C’ stuff where you have to grind and today was like a ‘D’ or ‘F’ game where you didn’t have anything.

“A lot of us are going through that tired stage, but I don’t know, I’ve got to make adjustments so I don’t have that.”

Kennedy faced 16 batters and recorded just eight outs on Friday night as the Indians collected five runs on six hits and two walks. He left after giving up a bases-loaded single to light-hitting Indians catcher Yan Gomes that brought home a pair of runs.

While Kansas City has enjoyed unseasonably cool weather in August, the month has not been kind to Kennedy. In four starts, he’s allowed 18 earned runs and five home runs in 19 innings as his ERA has jumped to 5.06.

Designated hitter Brandon Moss hit a solo home run against Cleveland ace Corey Kluber in the second inning, but that’s all the Royals could muster on the night.

Down 5-1, the Royals threatened twice.

They had runners on second and third with one out in the fourth inning when Moss grounded out sharply to first base. Mike Moustakas broke off second base and was caught in a rundown and tagged out to end the threat.

“Mossy smoked the ball,” Yost said. “He hit it so hard (that) it just kinda caught Moose in no-man’s land out there.”

With one out in the sixth inning, Eric Hosmer beat out a grounder to first baseman Carlos Santana. Kluber was late covering first because he was moving gingerly as he left the mound.

As Cleveland’s training staff looked on, Kluber threw a few warm-up pitches and stayed in the game. However, Melky Cabrera singled, and that was the end of Kluber’s night. He was later diagnosed with a sprained right ankle.

Left-hander Andrew Miller, who came off the disabled list on Friday, entered the game and struck out Mike Moustakas. Brandon Moss walked and the bases were loaded, but Alcides Escobar flied to right to end the threat.

The Indians added a run in the sixth inning and essentially put the game away in the seventh when Jay Bruce thumped a three-run homer off Jake Junis to make it 9-1.

Edwin Encarnacion’s solo shot in the ninth inning against Ryan Buchter was the cherry on top of a terrible night for the Royals.

“These types of games are where you look at it and you say, ‘OK, my starting pitcher just didn’t have his good stuff’ and they blow us out,” Yost said. “It doesn’t hit you anywhere like the game (Tuesday) in Oakland did, where you take the lead in the eighth inning. We got beat tonight. You look back and guys competed, but they were better than us tonight.

“You can kinda live with that — come back tomorrow and do it all over again.”

Indians 10, Royals 1

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 10:15 PM with the headline "Cleveland makes quick work of Ian Kennedy in 10-1 victory over Royals."